->'''Darien Fawkes''': C'mon, didn't you have an invisible friend as a kid?\\'''Bobby Hobbes''': I had invisible enemies.-->-- ''Series/TheInvisibleMan'', "Ralph"

The ImaginaryFriend is a common trope in fiction, in which it bears little resemblance to the counterparts in RealLife (after all, [[RealityIsUnrealistic that would be boring]], like real amnesia). Imaginary friends in fiction can be holograms, spiritual projections, ghosts, psychological conditions, stress or injury related psychosomatic conditions, even split personalities. And because it is more entertaining, sometimes they aren't very friendly, or are actively malign towards their host/audience, or perhaps [[GollumMadeMeDoIt friendly to their host alone, and dangerously less so to everyone else.]]

Often they serve as a plot device to drive the person crazy, torment them, tempt them, or subvert their beliefs and actions in some way. Sometimes representing deceased people or perverted versions of people known by the victim, such as murder victims. Examples are not quite the level of EnemyWithin, in that they do very little to actively harm the host and rarely exert any kind of physical control. Also, the host most often will not tell anyone, or at least keep the information with a select few, knowing that [[YouHaveToBelieveMe they won't be believed]] (insane asylums are no place to be alone with your imaginary enemy).

Sometimes, YourMindMakesItReal, and the more you believe in the enemy and the more strongly you fight it, the more dangerous it becomes. See also TheKillerInMe, EnemyWithin and EnemyWithout. This trope [[IThoughtItMeant is not]] related to UnknownRival.----!!Examples

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[[folder:Anime and Manga]]* A major plot point in ''VisualNovel/HigurashiWhenTheyCry''. The first arc reveals that when Rena wasn't living in Hinamizawa, she reported footsteps behind her and thought someone (or rather, Oyashiro-sama) was watching her all the time. [[spoiler:Paranoia of this sort is actually a symptom of the HatePlague, which can also make innocents seem creepy/trying to kill you.]] Occasionally subverted, though-- [[spoiler:that shadowy presence watching people is usually Hanyuu (Rena was right!).]]* In ''Manga/SoulEater'', Stein sees some visions of NotQuiteDead villain Medusa, eventually leading to a temporary FaceHeelTurn. Filled with FoeYay.* Jeremy and Ian of ''Manga/ACruelGodReigns'' both see [[ArchnemesisDad Greg]], who haunts their lives long after his death. For Jeremy, this is [[YourMindMakesItReal especially true]], and he is often physically affected by Greg's "prescence."[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comicbooks]]* In ''Comicbook/DoomPatrol'', Dorothy Spinner's main power is that she has imaginary friends who can affect the world in some very non-imaginary ways. Unfortunately, that includes [[EldritchAbomination The Candlemaker]], who's not a nice person...* Comicbook/{{X-Men}} ** Sage develops a split personality named Diana Fox, who repeatedly fought with her and tried to take over her body.** Legion has made a number of imaginary people to keep him company and take away the pain and confusion. The only problm is his mutant power not only makes them ''real'', but also gives them superpowers. Most of them are not nice people.* In IDW's {{Transformers}} comics, [[TheStarscream Starscream]] has finally achieved his ambition of becoming ruler of Cybertron, but finds himself haunted by a hallucination of the late Bumblebee who tries to force him to do thing he never would...like become a wise and just leader who acts for the greater good. The Annual implies this may not entirely be imaginary.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Film]]* In ''Film/MrBrooks'', [[spoiler: Earl Brooks is both driven and tormented by his alter ego Marshall.]]* ''Film/FightClub'' has [[spoiler:the narrator being manipulated and ultimately tortured by Tyler Durden, a SplitPersonality formed by his subconscious trying to get him to ''live'' his life. Ultimately he destroys Tyler by shooting himself (nonfatally) in the head, proving he can accept his own death.]]* In ''The Seven Percent Solution'' it turns out that Professor Moriarty being an evil criminal mastermind is a drug induced fantasy of Sherlock Holmes's.* In ''Film/SecretWindow'' it turns out that the killer is a cross between this and a SplitPersonality of the main character.* [[Film/TheCabinetOfDrCaligari Dr. Caligari]]. He appears to be the main villain, but [[spoiler: there's actually NoAntagonist]].* ''Film/DropDeadFred'' is about a grown woman's childhood imaginary friend coming to life. He means well, [[spoiler: and comes through for her in the end,]] but until then he just serves to make her already awful life that much more stressful.* The Red Knight that torments Parry in ''Film/TheFisherKing''. Inspired by [[spoiler: the appearance of his murdered wife's body.]]* The scary-looking person behind Winkie's in ''Film/MulhollandDrive''.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]* In ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'' series Rand al'Thor is driven to distraction by the voice of an insane Lews Therin Telamon (his past life) in his head, bordering on becoming an EnemyWithin at times.** Of course, Lews Therin sometimes argues that Rand is the imaginary one. These are Lews Therin's ''more'' lucid moments.** [[spoiler: It's eventually revealed that Lews Therin's voice was never real at all, being instead a function of Rand's progressive SanitySlippage and the fact that he had refused to accept Lews Therin as part of himself. After he does so at the end of book twelve, he basically absorbs Lews and has access to his memories, but remains one personality]]. * In multiple books of ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'', wizard Harry Dresden has regular visits from a fallen angel, Lasciel, after Harry briefly touched a Roman denarian coin inhabited by Lasciel. Only Harry can see the fallen angel, and she appears to Harry to tempt him and offer him power. [[spoiler:In the book Dead Beat, Harry has periodic encounters with another character, and only late in the story does Harry realize that the character is actually Lasciel and only he can see her.]]* Appears in ''The Musicians'' by Andrzej Sapkowski when [[HumansAreBastards humans try to be bastards]] too hard for their own good.* Peter Quint in Henry James's ''Literature/TheTurnOfTheScrew''.** He might not be entirely imaginary...* In Franchise/{{Mistborn}}, Vin always hears the memories of her long-gone brother Reen telling her she can't trust anybody. [[spoiler: It turns out that the voice she hears is neither imaginary nor her brother. It's the BigBad, Ruin, who's apparently fond of this particular con.]]* In the ''Literature/NewJediOrder'', Tahiri spends several books haunted by visions of Riina, the [[ScaryDogmaticAliens Yuuzhan Vong]] personality brainwashed into her earlier in the series. It's eventually revealed that, thanks to the incomplete nature of the brainwashing (and likely Tahiri's connection to the Force) that Riina has become an almost entirely seperate entity still attached to Tahiri's mind and soul. Since Tahiri can't get rid of Riina without destroying herself in the process, she ends up merging with her instead. * In the ballad "Literature/TheErlKing" by Creator/JohannWolfgangVonGoethe, a boy feels he is pursued by a supernatural entity which his father cannot see, and which wants to take him away to a supernatural realm against his will.* ''Literature/{{Goosebumps}}'': The "best friend" from ''My Best Friend is Invisible" often gets the main character in a lot of trouble out of boredom, and of course no one will believe his wild stories about an invisible friend. [[spoiler:Then the ending reveals that the main character is actually an evil alien who only looks human and the invisible friend is a scared human boy who survived the invasion of Earth by becoming invisible.]]* A minor example is Perdita, Agnes Nitt's "the part of you that wants to dance naked in the rain" in the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novels. Perdita isn't exactly malevolent, but is constantly putting Agnes down. She's actually referred to as "an imaginary enemy" in ''Discworld/CarpeJugulum''.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]* Gaius' fantasy Six in the new ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|2003}}'' series. Strangely, Six later begins seeing an imaginary Baltar. And Baltar begins seeing an imaginary ''himself''.** And then it turns out that they were just [[spoiler: "angels" trying to prod humans and cylons down a path that wouldn't lead to EternalRecurrance.]]* Several characters are tormented or assisted in ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' by the First Evil.* In ''Series/{{Farscape}}'', John comes close to being driven crazy by a mental clone of Scorpius (whom he names "Film/{{Harvey}}"), on behalf of a chip in his head. Towards the end of the series the clone becomes more of a confidante and sounding board than anything else, however.* Near the end of season 5 of ''Series/{{Highlander}}'', Duncan is tormented by Ahriman, a demon only he can see, who likes taking the form of old enemies Duncan has killed. In the SeasonFinale he ends up [[spoiler:confusing Duncan to the point of accidentally killing his friend and pupil Richie Ryan]], causing a WhatNowEnding ending. In the next season [[spoiler:He [[ThisIsSomethingHesGotToDoHimself faces]] Ahriman alone, and ends up defeating him through a combination of [[TalkingTheMonsterToDeath conversation]] and [[MartialPacifist poking ballet]].]]* In the ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'' sketch about the Piranha Brothers, Dinnsdale is haunted by Spiny Norman, an giant imaginary hedgehog, who was normally twelve feet long, but could be up to eight hundred yards long if Dinnsdale was depressed.* ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise''. In the MirrorUniverse episode Jonathan Archer discovers that his counterpart in the other universe is a famous starship captain, and for the rest of the episode gets taunted by his imaginary counterpart, who constantly implies that he'll never amount to anything.* ''Series/{{House}}'': House's hallucinations of Amber turn out to be this when it is revealed that "she" gave him a wrong diagnosis on purpose.* In ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'''s seventh season, Sam begins hallucinating that Lucifer (the BigBad of season five) is tormenting him as a result of having his soul mangled in Hell. Even though this Lucifer is a hallucination, and Sam knows he's a hallucination, he still manages to cause quite a bit of trouble, including invoking SchrodingersButterfly and nearly tricking Sam into shooting his brother Dean. The hallucinations get worse as the season progresses, until finally Sam has a mental breakdown and can't even manage basic functions like eating and sleeping. [[spoiler:Castiel saves Sam by transferring the hallucination to his own mind. Being an angel, he eventually recovers.]]* In an episode of ''Series/TheHauntingHour'', a kid named Shawn creates an imaginary friend named Travis, who forces Shawn to do bad things, and eventually tries to kill his brother David. * In an episode of ''Series/CriminalMinds'', the Unsub of the week has three hallucinated 'friends' as a result of his paranoid schizophrenia. Said hallucinations incessantly heckle and insist he should stab various people to death. Sadly, the Unsub complies because the adrenaline from stabbing is the only thing that allows him to overcome his insomnia.* An episode of ''Series/TalesFromTheCrypt'' featured a lonely man who kept his imaginary friend into adulthood. Said friend isn't too happy when he gets a girlfriend. [[spoiler:He ends up disposing of the man and taking over his life.]]* In the ''Series/RedDwarf'' episode "Confidence and Paranoia," there's a discussion of how every human being has the two titular imaginary enemies inside their head: Confidence telling you that you can do anything (even if you can't) and Paranoia telling you that you're bound to fail (even if you aren't). Unfortunately, this discussion occurs while Lister is suffering from a mutated YourMindMakesItReal disease, so they don't stay imaginary long.* Averted in earlier episodes of ''Series/SesameStreet'' with Big Bird's friend Snufalupagus, who was, in fact, not imaginary but was never seen by the adults characters in the show until his reality was revealed episode 2096, which screened in 1985.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Newspaper Comics]]* ComicStrip/{{Calvin|AndHobbes}} is known for his (sort of) imaginary friend, but his imagination is enormous enough to accommodate other characters as well. The monsters under his bed, while not specific recognisable individuals, are collectively an imaginary enemy to him. They are always trying to eat him, but are harmless in the sense that it's inconceivable to think of them ever succeeding. His mother once suggests to him that they're a case of YourMindMakesItReal (or at least that's how he understands her saying they're imaginary), but just because he tried to stop believing in them didn't mean they stopped believing in him. Said imaginary friend, Hobbes, fights with Calvin a fair amount, including pouncing on him every day when he gets home from school.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]* One of main uses for illusion spells in ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''. Turned UpToEleven with Phantasmal Killer that causes target to face its worst nightmare and die of horror on the spot. For extra fun, on the [[LayeredWorld Ethereal]] illusion/phantasm effects has a chance to be permanently materialized, and this includes monsters (now free-willed). Including Phantasmal Killer spells, of course.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Videogames]]* ''[[VideoGame/{{Manhunt}} Manhunt 2]]'' has [[spoiler:Danny implanting SerialKiller personality Leo into his head for his career, but the Pickman Bridge malfunctioned, explaining of how he could see and talk to him. Ultimately, depending on which ending, it is either Danny or Leo would win the fight.]]* In ''VideoGame/DeadSpace2'', Isaac is frequently beset by vivid hallucinations of his dead girlfriend, Nicole. If he doesn't resist them, they will [[spoiler:make Isaac kill himself]].* In ''Videogame/BatmanArkhamKnight'', Batman is tormented by a [[spoiler: Joker]] hallucination. He starts off simply bullying Batman and making snarky comments, [[spoiler:but over time he gets more and more malicious and in-your-face until eventually he begins to take over Batman's mind. Prompting the JourneyToTheCenterOfTheMind final level.]]* The character [[spoiler:John Conrad]] in ''Videogame/SpecOpsTheLine''. He turns out to be a manifestation of [[spoiler:Walker's]] internalized guilt, added to his possibly pre-existing PTSD from Afghanistan. [[spoiler:The real John Conrad died long before the game began.]]* Zigzags between friend and enemy in ''Videogame/UntilDawn''. [[spoiler:Segment where the player aka Josh interacts with his psychiatrist start out with the psychiatrist being at times critical, supportive, and most often creepy towards Josh. Finally, he becomes ''horrified'' at Josh's actions, and antagonizes him over the pointless harm and pain he is causing them. As Josh's anti-psychotic medication loses effect and he keeps slipping farther into madness (and if certain choices are made, such as fearing Zombies) the psychiatrist's appearance begins to decay as he rots.]][[/folder]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]* Zimmy from ''Webcomic/GunnerkriggCourt'' sees monsters and other "things that ain't supposed to be there". If left untreated, her hallucinations [[RealityWarper become real]].* Haley of ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'' has dozens of these: every aspect of herself from self-doubt to desire-for-comedy to latent-bisexuality. Some of them are benevolent, but they all annoy her.* Subverted in ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'', where the images of Kiki and Jaya torment Bun-bun for abandoning them (they're ok, but Bun-bun doesn't know that). Telling them off in CardCarryingVillain fashion [[http://sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/980725 cheers him up immensely]].* ''Webcomic/OriginalLife'' features a [[http://jaynaylor.com/originallife/archives/2012/04/304.html creepy anthropomorphic cigarette]] (who is also smoking a cigarette) representing smoking withdrawal symptoms.* According to the [[http://dresdencodak.com/2010/03/11/mademoiselle/ MADEMOISELLE]] boardgame, Kimiko Ross of ''Webcomic/DresdenCodak'' could only create these instead of imaginary friends.* ''Webcomic/SomethingPositive'': Kharisma may or may not have one in the form of Fluffmodeus (on both counts: its reality is questionable, and it's just as likely to help her as to offer sociopathic advice).* ''Webcomic/{{Whomp}}'': Ronnie's self-esteem issues manifest as Motivation Dude, who torments him to no end.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'' once had to face an imaginary enemy that had powers in the real world; being unable to see or confront him, they had to concoct an imaginary friend of their own. Their [[MentalFusion combined brainstorming]] created a bunny lady scientist with a pretty dress and combat boots.* In ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'', Robin is taunted (and almost killed) by [[spoiler:an illusion of Slade]] in the episode "Haunted".* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Reboot}}'', [[BigBad Megabyte]] left a hologram of himself in The Core to taunt Bob as he was trying to prevent the system from crashing.* In one of the Treehouse of Horror specials of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', Lisa's imaginary friend began killing random people and pinning their deaths on her out of anger for moving on. She is defeated when Lisa forcibly forgets her, causing her to disappear once again.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Real Life]]* [[http://www.cracked.com/article_21520_5-lies-you-probably-believe-about-my-life-with-schizophrenia.html This]] ''{{Website/Cracked}}'' article describes schizophrenia in terms of this trope. To quote the article:-->"I won't speak for all schizophrenics, but for the most part, ''we don't like our voices.'' Why would we ever do anything simply because those jerks told us to? Think back to your middle school bully -- how would you respond if he tried to talk you into committing horrible crimes, but couldn't threaten you bodily harm (because he himself had no body -- for the purposes of this example, your middle school bully is a ghost). You'd tell him to fuck off and leave you alone, or at least run away."[[/folder]]